I thought you guys would appreciate this.
This show has been my baby throughout the creative process that began during last fall's season, and it's been an incredibly fun ride. I'm in my 13th season as Director of Percussion here at Watkins Memorial HS, and over the last few years I've taken on much of our concept development as well.
My concept here was to retell the general storyline of Tapestry of Nations, as its message is more relevant now than when it debuted. To avoid obvious cultural appropriation, the story of competing "tribes" was created to open the show. I substituted We Are One from Rivers of Light in place of We Go On for the ballad, as the music had an edge I preferred to the syrupy Epcot track.
It's difficult to tell in the video, but the band starts with uniform components that group them into 4 different colored tribes. The covers are slowly removed during the transition into and the beginning of We Are One, so that at the apex of the piece the entire band is dressed to match:
The show has been very well received, winning 2nd in class and 3rd overall at Bellbrook HS's MSBA prelims and qualification for OMEA State Finals in its second time out. We still have 2 weeks of regular season competitions before heading to OMEA Finals and then MSBA Finals.
For the band nerds among us: Wind music was arranged by Alex Thode, with percussion written by yours truly. The visual design was done by Sarah Mooney of Jeremy Jorgensen Designs.
Enjoy!
This show has been my baby throughout the creative process that began during last fall's season, and it's been an incredibly fun ride. I'm in my 13th season as Director of Percussion here at Watkins Memorial HS, and over the last few years I've taken on much of our concept development as well.
My concept here was to retell the general storyline of Tapestry of Nations, as its message is more relevant now than when it debuted. To avoid obvious cultural appropriation, the story of competing "tribes" was created to open the show. I substituted We Are One from Rivers of Light in place of We Go On for the ballad, as the music had an edge I preferred to the syrupy Epcot track.
It's difficult to tell in the video, but the band starts with uniform components that group them into 4 different colored tribes. The covers are slowly removed during the transition into and the beginning of We Are One, so that at the apex of the piece the entire band is dressed to match:
The show has been very well received, winning 2nd in class and 3rd overall at Bellbrook HS's MSBA prelims and qualification for OMEA State Finals in its second time out. We still have 2 weeks of regular season competitions before heading to OMEA Finals and then MSBA Finals.
For the band nerds among us: Wind music was arranged by Alex Thode, with percussion written by yours truly. The visual design was done by Sarah Mooney of Jeremy Jorgensen Designs.
Enjoy!
( I can say that since my son is a Tenor player )